Burgenland riders target finals at Aachen world championships

Show jumper Bianca Babanitz and dressage rider Peter Gmoser will represent Burgenland and Austria at next week’s World Championships in six equestrian disciplines in Aachen, Germany, ORF reported. Both riders see the event as a career dream.

Aachen is regarded in the equestrian world as a venue comparable to Kitzbühel in skiing and Wimbledon in tennis. Its stadium holds 40,000 spectators, and Babanitz said she was delighted to compete there. Gmoser also said he was looking forward to the championships, noting that the last World Equestrian Games in Aachen were held 20 years ago and that he had not had a horse to ride there at the time.

Gmoser will compete in dressage with his mare Dante’s Daiquiri. It will be their first world championship appearance as a pair and Gmoser’s first at a world championship in 16 years. He has developed the mare for major competitions for eight years and described her as highly energetic and ambitious. He said she had initially needed to learn not to show everything she could do during a test, but that the partnership was now beginning to work.

Babanitz has been riding the 13-year-old stallion I Will Be Famous for just under a year. She said the horse appears to grow in confidence when he enters a stadium and sees the crowd. The pair have already produced several strong results this year, including at the Nations Cup in St. Gallen.

Babanitz said her goal was to reach the final, while taking the competition round by round. For both riders, the championships are a career highlight and also a step towards the Olympic Games in two years.